Thursday, February 25, 2010

“Walking proof that methadone ‘is failing’ after 20 years on treatment”

A 12 Feb article in News.Scotsman was headlined: “Walking proof that methadone ‘is failing’ after 20 years on treatment”. the article reports the latest harsh criticism of methadone maintenance by "one of Scotland's leading experts on drugs," Prof. McKeganey. The man referred to in the headline has been dependent on opiates since a teenager, and in Scotland – even more than most countries of the world – untreated heroin use with tragic frequency ends in death. It is difficult to imagine anyone positing that the methadone prescribed in this case did not contribute in a major way to survival. And if survival of a frequently fatal condition is not proof positive of a treatment’s efficacy, then what is?

3 Comments:

Algunas veces parece que uno se olvida, pero la verdad es clara y concisa, la metadona es uno de los mejores medicamentos que existen en el mundo, por muchas razones que no voy a enumerar, pero soy especialista en fármacos y se de lo que hablo. It is a long way to go, because many people do not see, do not listen and do not want to care about others with good feeling and enough knowledge

Though I can say my 6 years on mehthadone was a site better than being a street junky. I was still miserable. I made it 3 weeks one time going cold turkey off methadone and couldn't take it anymore. I thought I'd be on that stuff for life, until I was treated with ibogaine. This is one treatment that left me free of methadone and the depression that motivated my use, helping togive me the freedom to make positve changes in my life.

Many people are on methadone for way too long. We just plain need more treatment options available. There aren't enough alternatives to traditional rehab, just mostly a ton of the same thing in a different building.